I believe I’ve heard that the name Kaitlin (Kate-lin) is just a misunderstanding of the way Kathleen is spelled in Ireland.
Quae scio?
Search found 229 matches
- Sat Mar 16, 2024 1:42 pm
- Forum: Languages of the World
- Topic: Irish Names
- Replies: 1
- Views: 55
- Fri Mar 08, 2024 2:07 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Insult
- Replies: 1
- Views: 72
Re: Insult
Many verb-to-noun pairs in English exhibit this peculiarity: survey (survey : a survey), reject (reject : a reject), and rewrite (rewrite : a re-write) among others. I’ve written about this here, advancing the idea that the latter-syllable stress for verbs is favored because it sounds more dynamic....
- Wed Mar 06, 2024 2:12 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Estimable
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2885
Re: Estimable
Thanks. I might also have noted that despite being colloquial and rare, the fact that it’s not a synonym or variant spelling of squish or squash adds a bit to its bona fides.
- Mon Mar 04, 2024 5:56 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Estimable
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2885
Re: Estimable
And I’ve always thought Quasimodo was just a name. (Actually, no need to capitalize it now.) Didn’t even have a hunch! Might as well loose the felis domesticus from the sack: it’s sqush , at least in the OED, earliest citation in Huckleberry Finn . Probably coined therein, but a few other usages not...
- Mon Mar 04, 2024 3:49 pm
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Estimable
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2885
Re: Estimable
The times being what they are, for the most part, I’d say you’re well-situated. I could start a new post about this wee discovery, but no one but you would take any notice anyway, so . . . . . . didja know there’s an entry in the OED (admittedly ‘U.S. colloquial and dialect. rare.’) with ‘qu’ not fo...
- Mon Mar 04, 2024 12:21 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Estimable
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2885
Re: Estimable
According to the OED, meaning 2 is obsolete.
- Sun Mar 03, 2024 11:33 am
- Forum: Good Word Discussion
- Topic: Hyperbole
- Replies: 1
- Views: 82
Re: Hyperbole
Interesting that hypobole, which is a word, is not an antonym.
- Tue Feb 27, 2024 10:43 am
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: AA Meeting
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1409
Re: AA Meeting
Ye gods and goddesses! We have the makin’s of a horse race!
The wik has it as a singular flat out.
Etymonline’s entry suggests cannola is Italian only
(and not for the pastry).
And the OED admits solely of the plural.
I’m tellin’ granma!
The wik has it as a singular flat out.
Etymonline’s entry suggests cannola is Italian only
(and not for the pastry).
And the OED admits solely of the plural.
I’m tellin’ granma!
- Mon Feb 26, 2024 7:25 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: AA Meeting
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1409
Re: AA Meeting
I’ve never used that - I get the OED through my library system.
Just looked at etymonline.com and I don’t see that.
Is there another version?
Just looked at etymonline.com and I don’t see that.
Is there another version?
- Mon Feb 26, 2024 5:17 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: AA Meeting
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1409
Re: AA Meeting
There are also graffiti and paparazzi, both with legit singulars.
Cannoli sounds off, using it as single (guess l’ll have to have two . . .),
perhaps because we’re so used to a final i indicating the plural.
There doesn’t seem to be a singular form.
Cannoli sounds off, using it as single (guess l’ll have to have two . . .),
perhaps because we’re so used to a final i indicating the plural.
There doesn’t seem to be a singular form.
- Sun Feb 25, 2024 5:41 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: Washington Irving Specialists?
- Replies: 0
- Views: 270
Washington Irving Specialists?
I’ve been wondering if the name Diedrich Knickerbocker
was supposed to be a joke of a kind on ‘died rich’, as a comment
on supposed Dutch parsimony.
was supposed to be a joke of a kind on ‘died rich’, as a comment
on supposed Dutch parsimony.
- Sun Feb 25, 2024 2:26 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: Another Botheration
- Replies: 1
- Views: 130
Another Botheration
Pre s. I always thought Chuck Berry - he was quite a wordsmith - coined that word, but it’s in the OED, going back well over two hundred years. I periodically check a few automated phone lines for credit card or other kinds of balances. They’ve always been natural-sounding. Lately, a couple are usin...
- Wed Feb 21, 2024 5:01 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: AA Meeting
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1409
Re: AA Meeting
Another interesting case is that of data and media.
The singular forms aren’t often required, but the plural quite
often are heard with the singular verb!
The singular forms aren’t often required, but the plural quite
often are heard with the singular verb!
- Tue Feb 20, 2024 11:18 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: AA Meeting
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1409
Re: AA Meeting
Ya big silly! I was going to come back, anyway. I should have said two lists, the third being of words with plurals only for different types. coffee , wheat , etc. There’s a word for that kind of noun . . . . Now I think of it, aren’t there also words which are plural only in a non-literal sense? Wa...
- Tue Feb 20, 2024 10:41 pm
- Forum: Res Diversae
- Topic: AA Meeting
- Replies: 16
- Views: 1409
Re: AA Meeting
I have such a list, in a 1979 print dictionary. Actually, three lists, depending on this or that. But how’s this for an equine of a similar hue? Words for which the singular is the same as the plural . Lemme explain. I’m thinking - not without a degree of irritation - of cases where the singular see...